In a year where concert culture feels like it’s splitting at the seams, from chaotic presales to fans mortgaging vacations for VIP meet-and-greets, Billboard is launching something that sounds almost utopian: VENU, a new platform designed to give fans a real seat at the live music table. Billed as “Where... Read More »
In 2015, a teenager named Silentó had the world dancing. His debut single “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” was a cultural phenomenon, an instant viral hit born out of Vine clips, high school gym routines, and bedroom dance videos. The song soared to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, soundtracked... Read More »
The 2025 Grammy Awards were suspiciously perfect. Beyoncé finally won Album of the Year, a long-overdue recognition that fans, critics, and industry veterans had been demanding for over a decade. Cowboy Carter, her genre-defying country epic, also won Best Country Album, and in doing so, cracked open a conversation about... Read More »
In one of those headlines that feels plucked straight from a fever dream - or at least a clickbait conspiracy subreddit, Pope Leo XIV, the newly elected head of the Catholic Church, has been revealed to be… distantly related to Madonna and Justin Bieber. According to a deep genealogical dive... Read More »
Sabrina Carpenter has announced her seventh studio album, Man’s Best Friend, arriving August 29 via Island Records. The release date, exactly one year after 2024’s Short n’ Sweet, marks a full-circle moment for the singer-songwriter, whose career has seen a dramatic ascension over the past 12 months, from chart-topping singles... Read More »
Brian Wilson, the songwriter, producer, and founding genius of the Beach Boys, has died at age 82. A spokesperson for the Wilson family confirmed the news Wednesday in a statement that asked for privacy as they “share \[their] grief with the world.” As the creative architect behind some of the... Read More »
A Connecticut judge has concluded a contentious estate dispute involving the late legendary blues guitarist Johnny Winter, ordering his former manager, Paul Nelson, and Nelson's wife, Marion, to pay $226,000 in damages. The ruling addresses improper payments received by the Nelsons after Winter's death in 2014 and denies their claim... Read More »
Celebrating 25 years of elevating Black voices across music, film, television, and sports, the 2025 BET Awards returned in grand fashion, delivering a night that balanced legacy with fresh talent. Hosted by Kevin Hart, the ceremony cemented Kendrick Lamar’s reign as the most lauded artist of the evening. Leading the... Read More »
In the early hours of June 7, 2025, the Capitol Hill residence of Grammy-winning artist Macklemore became the site of a violent home invasion, sending shockwaves through the quiet Seattle neighborhood and raising troubling questions about the motives behind the break-in. According to the Seattle Police Department, the incident occurred... Read More »
On July 13, the FIFA Club World Cup Final will feature a halftime show for the first time. Set to take place at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the performance will be headlined by Doja Cat, Tems, and J Balvin. This year’s edition is already the most ambitious to date.... Read More »
In 2022, Marina walked away from a major label deal that had defined most of her adult life. For the better part of a decade, she had released music under Atlantic Records, an arrangement that produced critically and commercially successful albums but increasingly left the artist at odds with her... Read More »
Beyoncé kicked off her Cowboy Carter world tour on Thursday night (June 6) at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, giving a carefully designed show that brought her latest album to life on stage. The concert marked the first stop on the European leg of the tour and introduced fans to a... Read More »
Day two of the 2025 Governors Ball Music Festival was marked by unexpected delays, weather-related cancellations, and a complete overhaul of its performance schedule after thunderstorms forced organizers to temporarily shut down the site. The festival, which takes place at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York, was originally... Read More »
There’s a line on Addison Rae’s debut album that sums up the whole thing in five syllables: “Fame is a gun.” It’s delivered like a threat, or maybe a tease, depending on how you choose to hear her. That ambiguity between sincerity and spectacle, between identity and performance, is where... Read More »
Taylor Swift’s long-running legal battle over her 2014 megahit “Shake It Off” has officially come to a close. As of June 2025, the copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the pop star by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler has been formally dismissed, ending nearly eight years of litigation that centered... Read More »
